Britain Agrees to Extradite Hacker

July 7, 2006

Britain Agrees to Extradite Hacker

Bowing the U.S. demands, the British government has agreed to turn over Gary McKinnon, accused of hacking several military sites.

In a post-9/11 world, it’s probably best not to try convincing the U.S. government that hacking isn’t always a bad thing. That’s a lesson Gary McKinnon, accused of hacking into 97 military computer systems, is finding out. After spending $700,000 tracking him down (figures provided by our military), the U.S. hardly appears in good spirits over this.

Yesterday, the British government agreed to extradite McKinnon to the U.S., where, according to reports, he could face up to 70 years in jail.

While I’m loathe to support government crackdowns on hackers – since most hacking is benign – it’s not going to help McKinnon’s case that he claims to be a computer novice who was high on marijuana while hacking.